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7/30/11

My baby is 3 years old now! Really? That can't be possible, where has the time gone? It seems like no time ago I was holding this little thing....

And now she is 3, hardly even a toddler any more! Ready to go to preschool in 2 weeeks :)

We had our own little family celebrations this Thursday on her actual Birthday.

We went to Mcdonald's for lunch and got her a happy meal!

Then we had cake and presents at home. Kirsten helped me make the cake and hang up balloons and streamers.

After Jack got off work that night we all went to Chuck-E-Cheese! Yay! We just let Kirsten play some games and didn't get a pizza because they are digusting and over priced ;)

She is so funny when we take her places like this, she is so excited to go and when we get there she is overwhelmed by all that's going on and gets so distracted watching the other kids that she just kinda stands there staring. We have to guide her along to different things because she just keeps stopping to watch :)

She has grown up so much in the past year, leaving all the baby type things behind. She sleeps in a big girl bed, wears big girl panties, gets herself dressed, and talks like she's an adult. :) She can run, jump, shoot a basketball, spell her name, speak spanish (ok maybe just a few words, thanks to Dora!), and never ceases to amaze me with the things she says and does. I can't wait to see all the changes she goes through in the year ahead!

7/27/11

I haven't worked out at all for the past couple of weeks (unless I can count lugging around a 16lb baby in a carseat) Most nights I tell myself that I am going to get up in the morning to run before the girls wake up, but then morning comes...and getting an extra hour of sleep vs. running. Sleep almost always wins.

Since I skipped out on my morning run AGAIN today, I got some exercise in with Jillian Michaels instead :)
I really like the 30 Day Shred, it's quick and my whole body is always sore the next day!

Kirsten likes to do it with me too.

Don't tell jillian I took a break to snap a picture ;)

Sweaty me and my workout buddy after we are all done.

After our workout we did some much needed vaccumming. Our area rug was ridiculously dirty. I do a decent job of keeping up with the laundry, dishes and clutter but other chores like mopping, dusting, and vacuuming, I don't do nearly as often as I probably should. Kirsten is a good helper though!

7/25/11

Today before lunch we all went to the eye glass store to pick Jack out a pair of glasses. He hasn't worn glasses since high school and has been relying on contacts alone. So we had no idea what style to get him, but I think we found a winner.
After we ordered his glasses, Jack went back to work and the girls and I went to Sonic for lunch. Kirsten and I sat in the car to eat while Kara napped in her car seat. Kirsten loves when I take her to Sonic because she gets to climb up and sit in the front seat by me :) I had my usual Cherry Coke with a junior burger and mozz sticks. Yummy!
Once we got home I laid Kirsten down for a nap, nursed Kara and played with her for a little while till she was ready for another nap. After naps we had a quick snack and then went outside to swim. I am so glad we bought the little pool that we did. It has been a lot of fun! Both of the girls really love it!

I thought the chicken was REALLY good! I asked Jack what he thought and he said "It's ok." :( I got my first clue that he might not be a fan when he came home and asked "what's that smell?" Hmm.. I have some sauce leftover so I am hoping to convince him to love it too, because I really want to make this again sometime. I thought it was perfectly sweet and juicy!

We cleaned up dinner and then decided to use a BOGO coupon I had for Bruster's to go get some ice cream. They give little kids a free kiddie cone so of course Kirsten always wants to go. She gets purple vanilla with sprinkles and candy eyes :) It makes a big mess!

By the time we got home it was 9pm and past time for bed. What a fun day!

7/24/11

Kara FINALLY rolled over on Friday! But, it happened once and not again since :(
Jack and I comment to each other several times a day about how good of a baby Kara is, and it's true! She is sweetest thing and is ALWAYS happy! She loves to laugh and giggles all the time. Daddy gets jealous cause she laughs so easy for me! She thinks Kirsten is hilarious, and Kirsten loves being goofy to make her laugh.

We have been giving Kara rice cereal a couple times a day for a few weeks now and it seems to be helping with the spit up problem we were having. I am going to buy some veggies this week to start making her baby food.

School starts in a few weeks and I will be teaching 3 mornings a week so I need to get Kara to start taking a bottle. I tried a couple times last week and she refused! I am going to start trying to give her a bottle for her morning feeding most days this week so maybe by the time school starts she will be okay with it. (fingers crossed!)

Kirsten never stops talking. She goes on and on about everything! She is very observant and has lots of questions about everything she sees. Sometimes it wears me OUT!

Yesterday she was out playing in her kiddie pool and she started singing "baby, baby, baby, oh!" yeah...Beiber! haha! She said she learned it from her cousin mercadies and then told me it was a song about Jesus. lol!

Kirsten is my big helper. She loves to help me fold clothes (she can do the washcloths perfectly), wash dishes, sweep, vaccuum, and take care of her baby sissy! Sometimes it makes the chores take longer but I try to always let her help in some way if she wants to.

She has been completely potty trained during the day for a long time now but still pees at night, so I always put a pull-up on her for bedtime. I am not sure how to teach her to stay dry overnight. Any tips?

7/22/11

We took a few days this week and went to Missouri to celebrate Kirsten's 3rd Birthday. She told me she wanted a Princess party and a Ballerina party, so that's what we did. First we drove to St. Louis to celebrate with my side of the family at my Grandparents house. They have a big pool party every year with all the extended family so we decided to do Kirsten's party with it this year.

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Kirsten with her little cousins :)

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My Mom and Dad with all my siblings and our kids.

Then it was on to Moberly for a Ballerina party with Jack's family. We had a great time celebrating with his parents, grandparents, and some aunts and uncles. Kirsten wore a ballerina dress that her cousin gave her the day before. She looked so cute, and loved being all dressed up!

7/14/11

Our house inspection was today so I had to take the girls somewhere for a couple hours. First we went to the park for a little bit and then to Target to pick up a few things. Well, I have this weakness. I can NOT go to Target without getting a jumbo soft pretzel! Yummo for warm doughy salty goodness! So that along with a Pepsi ended up being my lunch. Delicious,yes...Nutritious, um I wish!

So to make up for my lunch I decided to make a super healthy smoothie for a snack this afternoon. I have been making smoothies a lot this summer because they are super easy, refreshing, and very filling.

7/12/11

Something I have been doing with Kirsten for the past couple years is storytime at the public library. Our library has some GREAT programs for kids! Kirsten loves storytime! They read stories, sing songs, dance, and say little rhymes. It's a lot of fun!

7/10/11

This afternoon while the girls where napping I watched a documentary on Netflix called Food Matters. If you haven't see this yet I would really recommend checking it out. The movie discusses how important it is to feed our body healthy, raw, organic foods. It talks about the amazing benefits vitamins and minerals have, and how we can actually use those things to prevent and fight off diseases rather than resorting to modern medicine with all the adverse side effects.

Drink 1 liter of water every morning before eating anything else. This jumps starts your metabolism, and helps to flush out the yuck :)

Strive to make at least 51% of your diet raw (uncooked) to get the maximum amount of nutrients you can.

It is up to me to take responsibility for what I put in my mouth. Instead of investing in houses and cars, we need to be investing in our lives by feeding ourselves and our children wholesome foods.

I thought it was really cool how the movie kept pointing to the fact that if we treat our bodies right they are perfectly capable of staying healthy and fighting diseases. There are naturally occurring vitamins to fight virtually every ailment, from depression to cancer.

I know how important it is to eat healthy and take care of my body, but it is so easy to get lazy and complacent. This film was a good reminder! Even more so as a Christian I know my body is a temple of God! Am I really honoring that body by putting all that junk food into it?

If you decide to check out "Food Matters" I'd love to hear what you think.

7/8/11

Kirsten doesn't have rainboots so she wore her snow boots to splash in the puddles!

We have been trying to do lots of tummy time with Kara to get her to roll over, but she HATES it! Most of the time she just buries her face in the floor until I give up and roll her over. Today she actually put forth a little effort, and stayed like this for a minute or so. We are getting somewhere :)

7/7/11

I took Kara to her 4 month well baby visit this week. Other than the girls having to get shots, I always kinda like these check-ups. The Doctor asks a bunch of questions about how the baby is doing, and I get to be the super proud momma and brag about how wonderful my baby is :)

Kirsten got to come along too. She was excited to help Kara by holding her hand while she got her shots. She was so sweet and concerned for her little sister! It was very cute!

We sang songs, played hide and seek, and ate snacks while waiting for the doctor.

She has been having some trouble with spitting up a lot so the doctor told me to start her on rice cereal to see if that will help with things. I'm tired of changing mine and Kara's clothes because of spit up so I am really hoping this works!

7/5/11

We celebrated Independence Day small town style! In the morning we took the girls to watch the parade that Wilmore puts on every year. There are lots of tractors, fire trucks, horses, and a lawn mower brigade! It's a tiny little parade but pratically the entire town comes out to watch, it's a really fun tradition :)

Following the parade we went to the festival where they have horse rides for the kids. Kirsten rode one last year at the festival, but I kind of expected her to be too scared to ride once it was her turn this year. She got right on though and did great!

Her horse was a little chunky :)

We let Kirsten stay up late so I could take her to see the big firework show that takes place just down the road from our house. Since the fireworks didn't start until 10pm, Daddy stayed home with Kara so she could sleep. Here is Kirsten and I watching the fireworks.

We had a great time enjoying all the fun celebrations our little town had to offer!

﻿Now for a few recipes. These are super basic recipes of things I made the this past week that I thought were worth sharing.

Homemade Popsicles

2 cups boiling water

1 packet of jello (any flavor)

1 packet of koolaid

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups cold water

bring 2 cups water to boil, stir in jello, koolaid, and sugar till disolved. Then stir in cold water. Fill popsicle molds, or just use little dixie cups and popsicle sticks. Freeze and enjoy!

(I also like to add a layer of fresh guacamole, but we decided to make this last minute and didn't have any avocados on hand.)

Mix refried beans with 1/2 packet of taco seasoning, spread into bottom of a serving dish. Then spread a layer of sour cream on top of the beans. Top with cheddar cheese and remaining ingredients. Serve with tortilla chips for dipping.